Lost and Found
by oconnella
Summary: The characters aren't said outright, but they remind me of Clone Syaoran and Clone Sakura. I hope you enjoy it, but go easy on the reviews, okay? I haven't given too much thought to this.


Characters

Nana

Very odd – eats only with toothpicks, a good artist and a voice actress

Fuyuki

Searching for the meaning of life – asking criminals, people doing drugs,

Tomoyo

A college drop out trying to write the great American novel – is a very good writer, a friend of Nana

Suzuran

Aspires to be the best bartender in New Jersey

Roderich (Rod)

A pianist who dreams of writing a book of 1,000 songs – so far he's up to 53

Eliza

A tough martial artist who wants to become a 10th degree black belt

Chapter 1 Nana

"That's it. It's got to be her," he had mumbled to himself as he approached me. He was an ordinary looking guy, with brown hair that fell into his eyes. He wore a rumpled white collared shirt and suit pants and loafers. Yes, that's right. Loafers. Geez, you'd think a guy in his 20s wouldn't have to resort to that sad state. His tie was done messily, and I had the urge to fix it, but held myself back, for fear of seeming strange. Not that I didn't already. I mean, come on. I was eating mashed potatoes with a toothpick. But it was the only thing I allowed myself to eat with.

He sauntered over to me, with a casual grin on his face. He took the seat across from me, and watched me eat for a minute or two.

"Um, can I help you?" I asked, finishing off my bite of potato.

"Oh! Sorry about that. I sort of zoned out for a second," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

Then he extended it in a handshake. "I'm Fuyuki," he added.

"Nana," I answered the unspoken question shortly, shaking his hand tentatively. "So, uh, why are you here?"

"Here, let me pay for that," he said, taking my bill from the waitress with a smirk.

"Err..." I said, trailing off, but I didn't refuse. Free food? It was worth it. But seriously, who did he think I was?

He followed me out of the restaurant, and halfway down the next block, before I turned around to speak to him. He stopped walking and eyed me curiously, as if it was normal to follow a stranger after paying their bill for dinner.

"What do you want?" I demanded, crossing my arms.

"Come on," he said, changing the subject yet again, and taking my hand and dragging me along the street to the city park, onto the dock overlooking the lake. He sat on the edge of the dock, legs dangling off, seemingly not a care in the world. He patted the spot beside him. "Let me tell you something." I looked at him suspiciously, but sat down beside him.

"Years ago, I was in a car accident with my whole family. My parents and brother died instantly, and I was the sole survivor."

I nodded for him to go on, sobered by this dramatic beginning.

"After that, I ended up living with my grandparents. They were strict and oppressive, and forced me into college. Now that I'm out, and living on my own, I have one goal. I need to learn something that nothing in my life has taught me so far. I've decided to take matters into my own hands, and learn it myself."

"What is it?" I asked, genuinely interested. His story intrigued me.

"The meaning of life," he said, leaning back onto the dock with his hands behind his head.

"Pfft," I said, suppressing a laugh. "You seriously think you're going to learn that in, what, a year?"

"I've been asking myself it my whole life," he answered seriously. "And I have my whole life to figure it out."

"So, err, how do you go about finding out the meaning of life?" I asked halfheartedly.

"I thought I had a good idea at first, but it isn't working out yet."

"And what's that?"

"Well, I figure that the people who know the most about life are the ones who screwed it up the worst. So I've been traveling around, asking criminals, potheads, gamblers, and the like what they think the meaning of life is."

I tilted my head to the right. "What...interesting logic."

"Pretty smart, right?" he asked, sitting up again and grinning toothily at me.

"Um, sure. Let's go with that."

We sat in silence for a moment or two. I admired the starry night sky and the reflection of the moon in the calm lake water.

"So," he began.

"So?" I questioned.

"Aren't you wondering why I'm here?"

"Yeah, why are you here?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Okay. I have a pretty good guess about what you're going to say, but ask anyways."

"Do you," he started, looking me straight in the eyes. "Know the meaning of life?"

I looked up at the sky, swinging my legs back and forth off the dock. "What, you think I'm a pothead or criminal or something?"

"No, no! You just seem...wise."

"And you say that about the girl who eats with toothpicks. I'm not going to lie, you have bad judgment, man."

He shook his head, rolling his eyes in the process. "Don't play dumb with me. I know you know something."

"Nope. Not a clue." I stood up, and began to walk out of the park and towards my apartment. Sure enough, I heard footsteps behind me. I looked behind me to see him with his hands on his hips. "Didn't my story touch you at all?"

"Of course it did, you idiot. But I can't just automatically know the meaning of life from that."

He adopted a standing thinker position, and seemed to reach a conclusion. "Ah! I've got it!"

"Hm?" I asked, continuing to walk. He walked beside me now, with a serious expression on his face.

"I'll just have to wait until you know."

"That's...your master plan?"

"Yep."

"Bravo, buddy. Now if you don't mind, I need to get some sleep. Bye." I walked up the stairs to my apartment and yet again heard footsteps behind me. I turned around.

"What is it this time?"

"I, uh, kind of don't have a place to stay. Think you could...help me out?"

I stared at him for a second, then continued walking upstairs. "No."

"Please? Just for one night?"

"...fine..."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah. Whatever," I grumbled, leading the way to my apartment.

I awoke in the late morning, yawning and stretching, before getting out of bed. Then, I tripped over a peice of furniture and fell flat on my face. "Ow," I muttered.

The peice of furniture began to move, and said groggily, "You okay?" I was stunned for a minute, then remembered furniture couldn't talk.

Crap.

This was the stowaway that had been hiding in my house for the past week. The one that had insisted on cooking what he called "good food." The one that had insisted on borrowing my clothes, although I had laughed and said he was crossdressing. And most importantly, the one who had insisted on me learning the meaning of life. Or rather, that I told him what I knew.

"Fuyuki..." I growled.

"You do realize this happens every morning, right?"

"My apartment's cramped, anyways," I defended myself. It really wasn't. Except for a table, bed, fridge, bathroom stuff, and stove, my apartment was bare of furniture. There was some artwork hanging on the light yellow colored walls though. I remembered he had seemed thoroughly impressed when I told him most of it was done by me.

"So are you going to get off me, or what?"

"Yeah, whatever," I said, quickly standing up and brushing myself off. "What's for breakfast, freeloader?"

Ignoring his newfound nickname, Fuyuki said, "Omelets."

I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Yum."

"Wow. That's the first time you've sounded excited about something I've made."

"Yeah, 'cause it's a normal food. Normal people don't eat mousakka on a daily basis!"

"Hey, I'm Greek, okay?"

"Obviously," I huffed, walking into the kitchen and getting out eggs, sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and various vegetables from the fridge. "That should be enough to satisfy our little chef," I mumbled to myself.

"What was that?" he called from the bathroom.

"Nothing! And it's weird to talk to someone while you're in the bathroom!" I said, shaking my head and sighing. Then I remembered. "Crap! I have an audition in 10 minutes!"

I ran around the room, getting dressed, and scarfed down a frozen sausage before running out of the apartment. As I flew down the steps, however, I heard someone call, "Wait up!"

A disheveled Fuyuki ran after me, holding my script. "Thanks," I sighed, continuing walking. I heard quick footsteps behind me.

"Err, can I come? I sort of have nothing to do. I put away the food and locked the door, too."

"Uh, sure," I said, and we caught the bus into the city. While we had some time, he decided to talk to me.

"So how come you don't have any pictures of your family or friends in your apartment?" he asked.

"Shh! I don't want people to know you've seen where I live!" I whispered. "They might think we're a couple or something!"

"Huh? Why?" he asked, tilting his head to the left. Man, he was dense.

"Anyways, they're all on my laptop. It takes up less space."

"But don't you like to be reminded of them?"

"Of course I do...but they have their own lives now. They don't need me."

"Yes they do. You know, you're a strange one, thinking people don't need you."

"Gee, thanks."

"I mean, what about your manager? He needs you."

"My voice."

"Same thing."

"Not really."

He sighed, shaking his head. We sat quietly for the remaining minutes of the ride.

Chapter 2 Roderich

"Where the hell is she? She's fifteen minutes late already," I complained. Man, if she lost this job offer...she was broke. And then she'd complain about it to me all day.

"It's okay, Rod. She'll be here soon. Maybe I can punch her out for ya," my girlfriend, Eliza, said cheerfully.

"Nah, it's fine," I answered, getting a text from her saying, "So sorry! I'll be there in 5 min!"

After what was exactly 4 seconds after 5 minutes, she arrived at the studio, dragging along some guy wearing a button down shirt that looked strangely like something I'd seen her wear before.

"Who's this?" I inquired.

"Your boyfriend?" Eliza asked.

"NO!" they both screamed at the same time.

"I - uh, he's my - err..."

"Whatever," I laughed. "You're late, but come on anyways, they waited for you. You have the script, right?"

"Yeah," she answered, flipping to page 134. "It's this monologue, right?"

"Yep, now go break a leg," I said, shoving her into the audition room. I turned on the speakers, so we could hear what was going on.

"Is that allowed?" the boy asked.

"Shh! She's talking!" I said.

"Um, my name's Nanase Takazumi, and I'm auditioning for the part of Chii," Nana said tentatively through the microphone. The judges nodded, and motioned for her to continue.

I looked up at the boy and Eliza, asking the boy, "What's your name?"

"Fuyuki Andreou."

"Interesting name. Well, Fuyuki, you are about to experience greatness in the career of voice acting."

Eliza laughed and smiled at me as the boy moved closer towards the window, looking curiously at the scene being played before him.

Nana took a deep breath, and then began.

"In this city there are no people. But the light inside the homes is warm and bright. I am in a city with no people. But I'm not sad or lonely. Inside my heart is warm. I am one of "them," but inside my heart is bright. That's because I love this person. The heart of someone who's in love, whether that person is alive or not, is for someone here or someone gone, is warm and bright. And if my heart can be like this, if I can be this happy, then I wish all those like me can fall in love...and all of them can have their love returned. Because if we can all find that special person, then the world will be a happy place. The love that we all feel...may not be the same, but it won't matter if it's the someone just for you. Then this city will have no unhappy people. This is the city where I live...with my someone just for me."

There was a stunned silence in the audition room for a moment, then a quick round of applause. "Thank you," the middle judge said. "We'll get back to you as soon as we can."

Nana nodded, then walked out of the room. I turned off the speaker, then Eliza and I grabbed her in a bear hug, and picked her up.

"Good job!" Eliza said happily.

"I guess so," Nana responded with a little smile.

"That was amazing," Fuyuki said genuinely.

We all paused for a minute, then Nana let go of us and started to give him a hug, but they decided a handshake would be better. "Thanks," she said, beaming.

"So, where to now?" I asked Eliza. Usually, she was in charge of plans. I was just Nana's manager, the one who got her jobs. Why should I be in charge?

"Why don't we take these two to the nearest restaurant for brunch?" Eliza proposed, seeing the two gazing hungrily at the box of donuts on the table nearest us.

"Shall we go?" Eliza asked, laughing. They both snapped out of their trance and looked at us curiously. "Where?" they asked in unison, then Nana shot Fuyuki an exasperated look for talking at the same time as her.

"Jinx," the boy said with a laugh, and Nana decided to laugh along with him.

"You idiots," I sighed, dragging the pair along with Eliza to the nearest Panera Bread.

Once there, Eliza and I ordered the biggest sandwich we could find to split, at which Nana and Fuyuki exchanged a look that seemed to say, "Bleh. Couples."

Fuyuki ordered a pastry, and Nana ordered soup, with which she requested a toothpick, which earned her a strange glance from our waitress. The second our food arrived, the hungry couple began to devour the food in front of them. Eliza and I stared at them for a minute, then split our sandwich, taking slow bites. Once Fuyuki was finished, he leaned back in his chair and sighed, putting his hands behind his head. "Om nom nom," Nana said, also leaning back in her seat. "Om nom nom?" he questioned, chuckling.

"Hey! It's just - it's just an anime thing!" she said, waving her arms back and forth frantically. Eliza and I laughed, then, seemingly having the same mindset, began to ask them questions.

"So how did you two meet?" she asked them. They both paused and turned to face us, and began to explain at the same time.

"We, uh, met at a restaurant-"

"And then we went to the lake-"

"And he asked me what the meaning of life was-"

"And she said she had no idea-"

"So he followed me-"

"Hey, I didn't have a place to stay!"

"And he's been freeloading off me-"

"For the past week."

They both sighed, and before they could relax for too long, I decided to test them with another round of questions. "So why don't you have a place to stay, Fuyuki?"

Appearing flustered at this question, he answered, "My grandparents - they live in New York, not In Atlantic City."

"Oh," I replied. "So are you thinking about moving here?"

"I-I'm not sure," he answered with a small smile."I'm a bit of a wanderer."

We left them at the bus stop and waved goodbye as we left.

Chapter 3 Fuyuki

Once Nana and I got back to her apartment, I went on my tumblr account. She wasn't exactly happy that I was using her laptop while sitting cross-legged on her bed, but I managed to learn her tumblr name. Once I logged in I started following her and was glad to see that she followed me back minutes later, using her iPod. "You in the kitchen?" I called to her.

"Yup," she answered, her voice echoing off the walls. Suddenly, I saw a funny picture on my dashboard.

"Hey, Nana!"

"Yeah?"

"Come in here! There's a hilarious picture on my dashboard!"

"Oh - okay!" A few seconds later, she padded over and jumped onto the bed beside me. It being old, a ton of dust flew into the air. I coughed, as did she.

"Ew," we said at the same time.

"Jinx," I said with a laugh. She rolled her eyes.

"So what's that pic you wanted to show me?"

"Oh - yeah. It's this one," I said, turning the computer towards her. She laughed and smiled.

"Lol. I love Pon and Zi."

"Are those their names?"

"Yup."

We sat quietly for a few minutes. "So, who's who?"

"I don't know," she chuckled. "They're cute, though."

"Hey, can I see my laptop?" she added.

"Uh, sure," I said, handing it over. She pulled out a tablet and matching pen and connected it to the laptop, opened MangaStudio, then began to draw. I peered over her shoulder, looking at the picture that began to form in a short matter of minutes. It was a boy, with dark brown eyes, and dark hair that fell into his eyes. Huh. It sort of looked like...

"Me," I mumbled.

"What?" she laughed. "Don't flatter yourself."

"H-hey!" I defended. "I'm just calling it like it is!"

Nana turned towards me, studying my face. She leaned closer to me, so that her nose was nearly touching mine, and said, "Nah. It's not you." She turned back to her artwork, opened a new page, and drew what looked like a troll. "Now THAT'S you," she said with a contented sigh. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the door and started to get my shoes on. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"The park," I replied.

"Oh," she said. "Can I come?"

"Sure."

She dashed to the doorway, slid her shoes on, took my hand, and pulled me out the door.

"Whoa! Slow down!" I yelled.

She didn't listen, and simply said, "There's this really cool place I have to show you!"

Once we were out of the building, we ran down the street, through the park, and began to run up a hill. However, this hill seemed more like a mountain, which would seem impossible to find in a city, but nevertheless, we were running up it. After a few minutes, we stopped to catch our breath. Panting, I asked her where we were going.

"Somewhere," she replied with a smile.

After our short break, we began running again at a slightly slower pace. Suddenly she stopped, and I smacked into her and fell over, but she remained upright. "Ow," I mumbled.

"We're here," she whispered, pushing away the branches

of nearby trees to reveal a beautiful view of the city, ever busy, but up here, it was quiet.

"Whoa..." I said, trailing off. "Whoa!" I called again, letting my voice echo around the wide open space.

"Isn't it great?" Nana asked, sitting down on the edge of the cliff/mountain thing.

"Yup," I agreed.

We sat quietly for a few minutes, then began the walk back. As we continued through the trees, the silence seemed to take over.

"So," I began. "Why do you eat with toothpicks?"

Nana's POV

I made a face and turned away. "Why don't we talk about you this time?" I suggested.

"No, I'm curious." he insisted.

"When did you become so stubborn?"

"Ha ha, that's a good one. Now talk."

"You can't just order someone to speak."

"It's not like we're strangers."

"You barely know me!" I exclaimed, attracting the attention of several passerby.

He laughed, then said, "Then tell me about yourself."

I looked away, rolling my eyes. "...fine..." I muttered.

"Yes!" he said, punching his fist into the air.

"Uh, sure...anyways."

"Anyways what?" he questioned, looking over at me.

"Anyways, I'm going to tell you about myself. Hmm...where to start," I began, thinking out loud. "I'm part of a family of 5. I have a younger sister and brother, and they and my parents cared about me very much."

He nodded for me to continue.

"Uh, um, at around 7th grade, I became very depressed, and didn't tell anyone. In April of that year, I was diagnosed with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I've been hospitalized a few times, inpatient and outpatient. So...yeah. I worry about hurting others, so I figure the least I could harm someone with when I eat is toothpicks, so that's what I eat with. Anyways...it's been so long since I've been, well happ -"

I was cut off as the freeloader hugged me tightly. We had stopped walking in the middle of the street, and cars started to honk their horns, so we ran across the street. He stopped me before we could walk any further once we were in the sidewalk. "Nana," he started. "I'm - I - I didn't mean to pry, and I know I was being rude. The thing is, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you had to go through all that. You didn't have to tell me all this. I just wish you could be happy." He hugged me tightly again, taking the breath from my lungs. As he began to let go, I hugged him back.

"Nana...?" he breathed. I slowly let go of him, and walked up my apartment, hearing ever present footsteps behind me.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Fuyuki made sandwiches for lunch and spaghetti bolognaise. We talked for hours on end, about everything it seemed. At around 1 am, I collapsed on my bed, and Fuyuki lay down on the floor, covered by a blanket.


End file.
